Commercial Information Circulars

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e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : EIC 111/3/13

10 May 2013

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 362/2013

US : The Court of International Trade's Ruling on the Tariff Classification of Shelf Bra Garments

The US Court of International Trade (CIT) recently issued two decisions concluding that certain women's outerwear garments with built-in shelf bras are classified as other knitted or crocheted garments, instead of as tank tops or bras.

2. For Court No. 07-00347, CIT ruled that the garment in question, "ladies' knit sleeveless basic tank pack with shelf bra tank top (95% cotton 5% spandex)" marketed under the description of "bra top", should be classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) subheading 6114.20.00 as "other garments, knitted or crocheted, of cotton". Articles classified under this subheading are subject to an ad valorem duty rate of 10.8%.

3. For Court No. 07-00361, CIT ruled that the garment in question, "ladies' 92% nylon 8% spandex knitted top bodyshaper with shelf bra" marketed under the description of "bodyshaper", should be classified under HTSUS subheading 6114.30.10 as "other garments, knitted or crocheted, of mad-made fibres, tops". Articles classified under this subheading are subject to an ad valorem duty rate of 28.2%.

4. The court decisions for the above cases can be found at
http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/SlipOpinions/Slip_op13/13-55.pdf and
http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/SlipOpinions/Slip_op13/13-56.pdf respectively.

ENQUIRIES

5.For enquiries about the content of this circular, please contact Miss S Y TANG at telephone number 2398 5405.

Yours faithfully,

(Ms Linda Ng)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry